Agree whole heartedly with Mrblandings and Joe Blowe. I am a latte drinker and my advice is a Macap grinder (because I love mine) and a La Spaziale in red:-) (just like mine). I can't afford the Ferrari so I got the coffee maker instead! Seriously, get a great grinder, shop around for the Silvia on sale and get to making lattes. If starbucks is your benchmark, there is still more to learn. The first thing you will probably do away with is the syrups. Trust me, good coffee and good milk (whole fat milk and non homogenized for me) with a dab of honey for the lingering sweetness and to enhance the flavor of the more than ten varieties of coffee that I am obsessed with currently will make you a believer in true espresso based drinks. I have failed miserably at making latte art but the microfoam that comes out is fairly consistent and really sweetens the coffee. I pull a double shot with 4-6oz of milk. There are a few places in town where I can still drink their coffee. This machine has really spoiled me! I also make lattes with soymilk and I have convinced many of a non coffee drinker and lactose intolerant friend to come to the dark side with me:-). They always comment on how starbucks coffee always taste burnt. I use any good whole bean coffee that I can find locally. I am huge fan of anything dulce! I also like Viennese coffee. I will stop now. I just remembered I wanted to go to a local coffee house to taste coffees and I want to check their website! Don't forget to get a good tamper too!! I bought a fairly expensive autotamper that I cannot recommend. I will be investing in an Espro or a Macap dynametric tamper soon. Also, buy a good quality milk jug. I find the thin metal ones difficult to make good microfoam with. I invested in an Alessi for my birthday but I like the motta too from Chris coffee and I may get myself a handleless rattleware for novelty sake!!! P.S. If you get the silvia, get it with the PID! Good luck and I hope you enjoy the ramblings!!

Thank you, everyone. One of the plumbers also mentioned using a ventless vent? The washer is being moved away from where majority of the plumbing in the house is. Old house with a basement underneath. Sounds nice as then we don't need to open up the staircase, closet and dining room ceilings to get to the vent pipe. However will it work? Mary

If it's a correct PEX system with a homerun back to a manifold for every fixture, then no, it has nothing to do with any other faucet in the system. It is pretty peculiar that it involves both the hot and cold (are you SURE it's both?). Is this one of those prefabbed laundry reccesses that came with the valves in a package, like from Oatey? That's the only way that I would think that both could be defective at the valves. There's just no way that a plumber got two defective valves from a supply house. And, if it's the valves, and not the joins that are leaking, it's not the plumber's fault. After the phone call to the insurace company and the flood restoration company, the next phone call should be to the builder. He needs to know about the faulty component. You should still be under the 12 month warranty that his insurance should cover for the damage. The call to your insurance company is for them to make sure he does the right thing.

I also have a La Spaziale, it is about 7years old and it is the S2 with 20amp setup. I also have the pre-infusion chamber on mine. There is no wait time for my machine between shots. I pull shots and foam milk for lattes at the same time. Not a cheap machine but I have not had a moment of regret since owning it. I have mine plumbed using a Flojet (Flojet from Chris Coffee) with a 5gal water jug. I also have it draining into another 5gal jug. These are under the cabinet. I have had dinner parties for twenty and pulled 20 shots in succession with foaming happening at the same time. I purchased mine from Chris Coffee and they have supported any issues with the machine. I have a leaky water valve because I did not descale in a few years so parts are easy to order and the unit is really easy to repair. Good luck!